Carbide Wear Surface and Method of Manufacture

摘要

A radial bearing having a wear surface with improved wear characteristics comprises a steel support, to which is bonded a metal carbide composite wear surface made by first arranging, within a cavity defined between a steel mold and the steel support, tiles made of microwave sintered, cemented metal carbide, closely packing the voids between the tiles with metal carbide powder, and infiltrating the mold cavity with a metal brazing alloy by subjecting the filled mold to rapid heating. The brazing alloy fills voids between the metal carbide particles, the microwave sintered metal carbide tiles, and the metal support, thereby relatively rapidly consolidating the carbide into a wear layer bonded with the steel support without substantially damaging the properties of the microwave-sintered metal carbide tiles.

主权项

1. A method of forming a wear layer on an article, the article comprising at least in part a steel support having a surface on which the wear layer is formed, comprising;
arranging in a cavity formed between a mold and the surface of a support on which the wear layer will be formed, an array of tiles made of microwave sintered metal carbide composite, wherein voids exist between each of the tiles in the array of tiles and immediately adjacent tiles, and between the each of the tiles in the array of tiles the mold and the surface of the support; filling the voids with metal carbide powder to form a matrix comprising the tiles and the spherical metal carbide powder; heating the brazing alloy to cause a brazing alloy to melt and infiltrate the matrix, heating comprising placing the mold containing the matrix, the bearing support, and unmelted brazing alloy with flux in an induction furnace and operating the induction furnace for a period of time sufficient to allow the brazing alloy to melt and uniformly infiltrate the matrix without damaging the tiles; allowing the matrix to cool, thereby forming a consolidation of the microwave sintered metal carbide tiles and the particles of metal carbide on the bearing support, the consolidation comprising the wear surface; and removing the mold and finishing the wear surface.